Our Story

We had been holidaying in Cove, Wester Ross, with our small children for about 10 years when the opportunity came up to create a more permanent base. We knew the locals well, and when one of them decided to split up his croft, we asked if he would consider selling us part of it. He agreed, and in 2010, we took ownership of a plot of land overlooking Loch Ewe. Initially, there was no planning permission and no road to the plot, but over time, we put plans in place for a conventional timber frame dwelling. "It took a long time to get that permission because the planning department was quite fussy about what could go up in the area—and quite rightly so," Mark explains.

Through our business, Strathearn Stone & Timber, we met architect Stuart Bagshaw. "We were doing a job in Harris, and the builder mentioned that Stuart wanted to speak with us as he was interested in what we were doing," Mark remembers. "We met with Stuart, and his signature build was everything we wanted but couldn’t put into words. 

We called planning and told them we wanted to scrap our current plans and build a Stuart Bagshaw house. They knew of Stuart, and said that if he was building one of his designs, we wouldn’t have any problems with permissions—and they were right." Stuart's design of Black Sheep House was one of Mark’s favorites, but we knew it wouldn’t be large enough for our family. "I think because I had seen Black Sheep being developed, it was my idea of the perfect bothy—something small where you could hunker down in wild weather. However, what Stuart designed here was exactly right, and we haven’t changed anything in terms of the design, apart from swapping one square window for an arched one.

While the design was finalized quickly and planning granted, the construction took a bit longer than we expected. We bought the land in 2010 and finished the build in 2024. It did take longer than we thought. After planning was granted, the next two or three years included buying a caravan so we could holiday and work on-site. Then Mark built the shed, and after that came the foundations. It was during the financial crash, so we were trying to pull funding together. Once the foundations were in place, we secured funding for the timber structure and the massive steels needed, and Mark decided to work on the build full-time. There’s nothing conventional about this building. Mark was learning on the job, and for his first build, he couldn’t have picked a more difficult one.